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Nutrition: aims and results

…Child though he be of human birth,
His food and drink are not of earth.
Foolish - even heat times will feel
The folly such hopes to deal: -
His fancies hurry him afar;
Of heaven he asks its highest star;
Self willed and mad pursuit,
Of earth demands its fairest fruit;
And all that both can give supplied,
Behold him still unsatisfied!

J.W.Goethe - Faust

Meat, milk, eggs, various fruits, all kinds of drinks, honey … The variety of products lets people use either all of them, or limit themselves with some groups of products. The ideas about what products are worth to take as food for achievement of that or those aims and what products to avoid, were connected with religious a philosophic views of society, where they were born.

During centuries and thousands of years people argued about what set of products to prefer, what use that or those choice brought, what aims, seemed to be paramount, would be achieved.

Even ancient yogis knew about the influence of food on person’s mentality, emotional mood, on direction of his wishes and desires. They divided the food into satavic - calming down and radjastic - stimulating.

Vegetable food, milk and dairy products have to do with satavic food.

Radjastic food - it is meat, fish, eggs and spices, and also alcohol drinks. Yogis’ slogan was to take satavic food, helping to this their opinion to person’s passing to the condition of meditation. Indeed, yogi’s advice - is the recommendation to follow the system of lactovegetarians.

Vegetary - is a system of nutrition, acknowledged the special value of vegetable food. The followers of this system vegetarians are different to their conceptions. Strict vegetarians (vegans) take only vegetable food. Some of them lay stress on fruits and nuts - they are fruitarians. They also eat vegetables. The other part of vegans puts forward the consumtion of bread grain products, including porridges and bread.

M.K. Gandhi was the bright representative of vegetarians. In the book “Diet and diet reform ” /Ahmedabad, 1949/ published after his death, one of Ganghi’s diets are described in such a way: “I take generally: 8 tolas of germinating wheat, 8 tolas of sweet almonds reduced to a paste, 8 tolas of green leaves pounded, 6 sour lemons, and 2 ounces of honey. Wheat is replaced twice or thrice during the week by an equal quantity of germinating gram. And when grain is taken in the place of wheat, coca-nut milk replaces almond paste”. Diets, described by Gandhi in this book, and which were used by him, do not contain the products of organic origin. The source of proteins in this diets is nuts, grains, germinating grain is used, about it we shall speak more in this book.

Another point of view is characteristic to followers of Japanese branch of macrobiotic, basing on the conception about the cooperation named above origins Yang and Ying and food balance applying to this traits. The word “macrobiotic” get its spreading after publication of the book “Macrobiotic oder Die Kunst des menschliche Leben zu verlangern” by Christoph W. Hufeland (1762 - 1836). In 1883 S. Ishezuke in Japan began to develop his conception of macrobiotic, about what we are speaking now. In contrast to lacktovegetarians of Hufeland the Japanese branch of macrobiotic doesn’t acknowledge the consumption of milk after weaning.

Macrobiotics often use very monotonous nutrition, consisting mainly in bread grains.

Side by side with vegans there are vegetarians, who do not limit themselves so strictly with products of organic origin. Lactovegetarions, as we have already said, use, besides vegetable food, milk and dairy products. And, finally, there is one more branch of vegetarians, allowed the consumption of eggs. They are lactoovovegetarians ( ovo in translation from Latin means egg). Sometimes people who do not eat meat, but do not reject from fish are mistaken called vegetarians, and even are picked out to a special direction of vegetarians, but in fact it is the nutrition combining food of vegetable and organic origin.

And finally, the large majority take various food, including in their diets meat and meat products, fish, sea and river invertebrates, supplementing by them to set of substances, contained in vegetable food, milk and eggs.

We would like also to stress that vegetarian supporters, proving the advantages of this nutrition system often bring the big list of philosophers, scientists, writers, painters and other famous people, who seem to be vegetarians but they do not tell you that many of them took milk, eggs, i.t. they were not vegans. It has to do with famous Russian writer L. N. Tolstoy, who became a vegetarian when he was about 60 years old, and to I. Newton. We want to add that many famous vegetarians passaged to the food of vegetable origin or milk at nature ages, and in childhood and infancy their organism was developed in conditions of supplying both the vegetable and the organic food. The bright example of this - Russian painter I. Repin (1844-1930), passed to only vegetable nutrition only in 1910, i.t. when he was about 67 years old.

Vegetarians consider themselves as followers of Ancient Greeks - Phyfagorians. Really, Phyfagorians borrowed from Indians the doctrine about soul migration, and that is why they were afraid of killing animals: as to Phyfagorians’ belief - the souls of died ancestors inhabited in them, and they didn’t want to disturb them. The religion prohibition for taking sea animals was borrowed by Phyfagorians from Egyptians and had nothing to do with the health. Mythology of Ancient Creek is satiated with sensuality, and that is why inevitably appears such a question, if vegetarian nutrition promotes sexual drive. Before we answer this question we want to doubt the vegetarian character of Phyfagorians’ nutrition. Firstly, they were lackovegetarians, i.t. they ate organic protein from dairy products (for example, cheese). Secondly, it proves to be that they took meat. In Plutarchus book ” Table talks” we read “Sulla … added, concerning Phyfagorians, that they ate meat mainly during the bringing victims to gods” (they brought victims to gods when wild animals, too intensively devastated crops). An ancient legend added to this that one of sportsmen, while preparing to the Olympic games violated the vegetarian traditions and with the vegetable food ate also meat. He won.

Considering and comparing recommendations of supporters of different systems of nutrition, we have to take into consideration one question, and namely: how this or that nutrition system meets the interests and goals of this person, what use he will get from chosen nutrition system, and in what he will loose. It has to do in full measure with the sexual drive and abilities of sexual performance, and to any potentials of a person’s organism, both physical strength or creative activity. Often they believe that it is possible to find such a diet and norm of nutrition, that would give a person all the goods at once - high work capacity, excellent sport results, enormous sexual abilities, protection from illnesses and active longevity. But there is no big confidence in the fact that for the optimization of achievement of different goals one and the same diet is needed. It is more likely that a person winning in somewhat one, loses in another. We shall speak about this problem not once lately.

Two very interesting publications by well - known Russian biochemist A.Danilevsky contain, one would think, quite different advice about nutrition. But this differentation is conditioned by different goals, which nutrition lets achieve. In his book “Food and character” (1891) A.Danilevsky grounded the pleasant influence of rejection from meat on person’s traits of character. But in “New apportionment for lower ranks with explanatory papers to them, composed by committee by chairmen of academician Danilevsky” (1907) he grounded the importance of constant getting of meat and other food of organic origin by soldiers. And there is no any contradiction here: soldier is worth to be strong and aggressive, but not to be kind and gentle, what is developed when you give meat food up.

There is an endless argument about potentials, which developed this or that system of vegetary. Time from time books by Papus “Black and white magic” and “Practical magic” are republished. Papus affirmed, that during the period of preparations to magic operations it was necessary to take only vegetable food, suppressing the will. To his opinion, the organic food kindles passions, prevents a person to come into transcendental condition and watching the astral phenomenon. Indeed, vegetarian, nitrating scantily, as Papus noted, could even lose conscious. So in such condition a person can see things that never can be seen by person who eats not only vegetable food but also meat. But sexual potential the system of strict vegetarian can’t develop. Though the people’s ideas of sexual life greatly differentiates. One of them dream to increase their potential to unprecedented sizes, do not think at all for how long the opportunities of their organism will be enough. The others prefer to save their opportunities for many years. Vegetarians very often assert that it is important not the frequency of sexual drive for them, but the quality of each of sexual intimacy, which increases in rear sexual associations in conditions of vegetable or milk - vegetable nutrition.

Naturists - people, who do not use any clothes in the places of their meetings - with the help of limited vegetable nutrition strive for total die away of sexual inclination.

The sexual male opportunities decreases also during fasting, even if it is pursued in health interests.

It is not surprising that poor vegetable nutrition is used by believers for suppression of their carnal desires. Lev Tolstoy in his story “Father Sergiy” so described the attempts of Father Sergiy to crush himself : “At first Father Sergiy took many of that he was brought: tea, sugar, white bread, milk, clothes and firewood. But with the time passing he began to make his life more and more severe, giving up all spare, and finally he didn’t take anything except black bread once in a week”. And further L.Tolstoy, wanting to show the great strength and potential of Father Sergiy resorted to grotesque, quite unreal in true life - having such poor nutrition Father Sergiy committed a violation. Alas, for the potential performance it is too little to eat only bread. It is not surprising, that Christians considered the elimination of meat during religious fasts as one of the stages of pacification of a person, his (her) preparing to confession and the Eucharist.

And what are the advises of medicine science about nutrition? In table 1 are presented the recommendations of experts of the World Health Organization about health diet, protecting from illnesses and giving the perspective of active longevity. In this diet the amount of fats is considerably limited, also the amount of sugar, and there are not at all the food of organic origin. The necessary biological value of proteins is supplying here by using pulses, nuts, seeds. Recommendations of WHO for teaching of the population in developing countries point that though the food of organic origin is not obligatory, but desirable, especially in the period of organism’s growing and for pregnant women and nursing mothers. American dietological association admitted in the middle 1980 vegetary (even strict vegetary) systems as rational systems of nutrition, protecting from many illnesses, but on condition of supplementation of substances lacking in vegetable food (vitamins B12 and D, zinc, calcium, and some other).

Erotic nutrition often causes in memory the expression “eat, drink and be happy - you know tomorrow we shall die”, it doesn’t promise longevity and in fact call to quick spending of life resource, given us by nature. This advice is often connected with Epicure, but for the sake of justice we would like to say that Epicure was vegetarian. But he mistaken very firmly came into conscious of many people as follower of hedonism - the system of views putting on the first place pleasures, including pleasures of tasty food. And here we would like to stress that a person who wishes to receive pleasures, striving constantly to stimulate his (her) sexual abilities with various emboldens means is risking to lose his (her) health very quickly. About this we’ll tell you in a chapter about organism’s recourse, and now we are passing to modern conceptions about influence of concrete groups of food-stuffs and substances, containing in them, on sexual status.

Total energy Energy intake to be sufficient to allow for normal child-hood growth, for needs of pregnancy and lactation, and for work and diserable physical activities, and to maturation appropriate body reserves of energy.

a - Further benefits would be expected by reducing fat intake towards 15 % of energy.
b - Daily minimum intake of 400 g of vegetables and fruits, including at least 30 g of pulses, nuts and seeds should contribute to this component.
c - Adult population on average should have a body mass index (BMI) of 20-22